The American Civil Liberties Union at Iowa State is drafting an amendment to the proposed keg registration ordinance that would require a subpoena or other court order for law enforcement to view the records.

The student group will submit the amendment to the Story County Board of Supervisors and Story County Attorney Stephen Holmes after “hashing out how to word the amendment,” said Greg Bonett, president of ACLU at Iowa State and off-campus senator for the Government of the Student Body.

“At any time, a police officer could walk into a store and get the list of people who bought kegs,” said Bonett, junior in electrical engineering. “With the amendment, the only time that information would be released is when a crime is committed.”

Youth and Shelter Services Inc., a primary supporter of the ordinance, does not support the idea of a subpoena amendment, said George Belitsos, chief executive officer for YSS.

“I don’t know why anyone would support the subpoena [amendment],” Belitsos said.

The purpose of the keg ordinance is to be able to track the purchaser of the keg when there is an accident or underage drinking, he said.

The subpoena amendment would make the keg ordinance “null and void,” Belitsos said.

Bonett said he disagreed and said the amendment would not change the effect of the keg ordinance.

“The judge would sign a subpoena and the records would be released,” he said. “It’s not making it inconvenient [for police officers].”

Bonett said the subpoena amendment would protect the privacy of purchasers.

“It’s important as a matter of principle,” he said.

GSB passed a resolution this month that included a recommendation that a court order be filed before a keg purchaser’s name is released, Bonett said.

YSS reviewed the resolution passed by GSB and supported the other recommendations, including requiring the ordinance to be reviewed after a period of time and officers to wait until the next day to get the name of the keg purchaser, Belitsos said.

Requiring police officers to get a court order would slow down the investigation of a crime, he said.

“They can’t investigate the crime or make an arrest until they get the court order,” Belitsos said. “You can’t get willy-nilly – it isn’t going to work.”

Wayne Clinton, Story County supervisor, said he would have to know what effect the amendment would have on the law enforcement process before he formed an opinion.

“I’m certainly open to investigating it,” he said.

ACLU at Iowa State will not support the keg ordinance without the subpoena amendment, Bonett said.